EDMONTON - Canada West Athletics is pleased to announce major award winners for the fall 2008 football season, as selected by coaches of the seven teams.
Taking honours as Player of the Year and winner of the Frank Gnup Memorial Trophy is second-year Calgary running back Matt Walter. Walter, who racked up 904 yards and four touchdowns on 147 attempts in playing all eight conference games, averaged 6.1 yards per carry and helped lead the Dinos to a 5-3 record, good for second place in the regular season standings. Walter is now the CWUAA nominee for the Hec Crighton Trophy as CIS Player of the Year.
“Matt made a name for himself last year as Rookie of the Year, but the big thing for him this year was that when Anthony (Woodson) went down, he was able to step up and fill the void,” said Dinos head coach Blake Nill. “We’re starting to see the development of a real leader, who understands his importance to the team. While Anthony’s injury was detrimental to us as a team, it pushed along Matt’s development.”
A graduate with honours from Bishop O’Byrne High School in Calgary, Walter ran for three touchdowns in the first game of his college career against Simon Fraser and finished 2007 with 702 yards, second in Canada West, and seven TDs, tied for the team lead.
Rookie of the Year and Peter Gorman Trophy nominee, as selected by coaches across the league, is Saskatchewan offensive lineman Ben Heenan. In a rare accomplishment, the Regina native started all eight conference games for the Huskies, a feat accomplished by only three others in team history, all of whom are now playing in the Canadian Football League. Heenan and his line helped the first-place Huskies (6-2) to the best offence (3,564 total yards; 445.5 yards per game) in the conference, including rushing offence with 1,355 total yards for an average of 169.4 per game.
A 6’5’’, 295-pound Engineering student, Heenan was a highly sought after recruit after being named the Saskatchewan Senior Bowl’s outstanding offensive lineman and an all-star in the Regina High School Football League for two seasons. He played high school ball with Regina’s Sheldon Williams.
“Ben certainly has demonstrated the ability to rank as one of the best offensive linemen we have ever had here at the University of Saskatchewan,” said Huskie offensive lineman coach Bart Arnold. “He has a rare combination of size, strength, speed and maybe most importantly he is easy to coach. He is mature beyond his years and will dominate in our league for the rest of his CIS career.”
Nominated from the conference for the J.P. Metras Trophy as Outstanding Lineman is UBC standout Scott McCuaig, who led Canada West and CIS in sacks for the second straight season, with 11. The fourth-year Thunderbirds product, who played at Holy Cross High School and for the South Fraser Rams before coming to UBC, had eight solo and three assisted sacks as he put up stellar defensive numbers across the board and moved into first-place in Canada West history in both career sacks (29) and career sack yards (174).
The 6’4’’, 240-pound defensive end is one of the most athletic and active defensive players in the country and finished tied for first in the CIS in sacks, was eighth in the country with 52 tackles, led the Canada West with 15 tackles for a loss, had two pass break ups, forced two fumbles, had one interception, and blocked a field goal during his monster defensive season with the ’Birds.
After just four seasons with the T-Birds, McCuaig is already the most prolific pass rusher in the Canada West record books with 29 career sacks and 174 career sack yards. After two solid seasons to begin his career with the T-Birds, McCuaig has exploded for 22 sacks over the past 16 regular season games.
“Scott has been one of the best players in the conference for the last two seasons,” noted UBC head coach Ted Goveia. “Quite often he is the best player on the field and he is able to dominate games. The scariest part is that he is getting better each and every year. The other thing about Scott is that he plays in the ‘now’. He is one of the few players I have coached who, regardless of score or opponents, gives 100 per cent on every play and is a difference-maker all game long.”
Calgary’s Andrea Bonaventura has proven to be a monster on defence and is the conference selection as Defensive Player of the Year, making him a finalist for the prestigious CIS President’s Trophy.
The 6’2’’, 255-pound linebacker from Hamilton, Ont. Picked up a combined 51 tackles – 37 solo and 28 assisted, to go with one sack on the 2008 campaign. In 2007 he recorded 30 tackles and had two interceptions. Bonaventura re-joined head coach Blake Nill in 2007 after playing under his tutelage at Saint Mary’s University in 2005, but was forced to sit during 2006 in order to make the move under CIS rules.
Nill said of his defensive star, “Andrea is just a great football player. He might not test the best, he may not be the most physically gifted player, but he comes from a football family and it shows. He understands the game and how it’s supposed to be played, and you’re seeing him quickly becoming a dominant football player.”
For the second year in a row, outstanding fifth-year Regina quarterback Teale Orban, a two-time league MVP and holder of several major Canada West offensive records, is this year’s Russ Jackson Outstanding Student-athlete Award nominee.
Among Orban’s academic accomplishments, he entered the University of Regina through the Faculty of Administration Excellence Program and won the Lorne Aston Scholarship as top male athlete in Regina High School Athletics combined with Academics, while his community involvement has also been notable as an active member at Living Hope Alliance Church, an instructor for two years at Run the Good Race Christian basketball school and he has refereed many basketball games for Regina elementary schools. Orban also served as the guest quarterbacks coach at the Scott Schultz Football Camp in Moose Jaw.
“Teale has been a true ambassador for the University of Regina and CIS sports. He has exemplified all that one would hope for in a student athlete,” said Rams head coach Frank McCrystal, 2007 CIS Coach of the Year.
After shocking Canada West to the tune of a 5-3 record and following up with a semifinal win at Saskatchewan this past weekend, Simon Fraser Clan head coach David Johnson has been named 2008 Canada West Coach of the Year.
Johnson, whose coaching resume includes stops at the high school, junior and university ranks, successfully ended SFU’s three-year winless drought this season and propelled the Clan back onto the national scene and the postseason for the first time in four years. In only his second year as head coach he tied SFU’s best record for wins in the regular season (5-3) since moving to the CIS in 2002, and coached a team that went from having the lowest rated turnover and rushing offence in the conference, to leading the Canada West in turnover margin and producing the second leading rushing offence in the conference.
“David Johnson personifies a true coach, someone who is both a teacher and a motivator,” said Simon Fraser’s Senior Director of Athletics Dr. David Murphy. “He has made the student-athletes believe, he had done an exceptional job of coaching our athletes, but also of holding them to a high standard off the field, particularly in the classroom.”
Historic moments for the Clan this season included defeating the Saskatchewan Huskies for the first time since SFU moved to the CIS in 2002, winning the 2008 Shrum Bowl on a last season field goal by Jeff Biles for SFU’s first Shrum Bowl victory over UBC since 2003, and leading SFU to its first playoff victory since 2003 with a 40-30 win over the Huskies in Saskatchewan. SFU also ended a 25-game losing streak with their opening day victory over UBC, and ended a 15-game road losing streak with the Shrum Bowl win.

Individual Canada West football major award winners are as follows:

Hec Crighton Player of the Year nominee / Frank Gnup Memorial Trophy winner: Matt Walter, Calgary
Peter Gorman Rookie of the Year nominee: Ben Heenan, Saskatchewan
John Metras Outstanding Lineman nominee: Scott McCuaig, UBC
President’s Award Outstanding Defensive Player nominee: Andrea Bonaventura, Calgary
Russ Jackson Outstanding Student-Athlete nominee: Teale Orban, Regina
Coach of the Year: David Johnson, Simon Fraser

All winners automatically become finalists for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) awards to be handed out Thursday, November 20, during Vanier Cup week in Hamilton, Ont.
The list of 2008 Canada West conference all-stars was released on Thursday. Calgary (5-3 CW, 1-0 playoffs) hosts Simon Fraser (5-3, 1-0) on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 1:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time in the 72nd Hardy Cup final for the A.E. Hardy Trophy.